Paterno morally obliged to answer questions on Sandusky
Joe Paterno needs to say more about what he knew regarding Jerry Sandusky and when he knew it.
After reading the Pennsylvania grand jury’s presentation, the first thought is not that Jerry Sandusky needs to go to prison if the allegations are true – it’s that he should be tied to the bumper of a Chevy and pushed off a cliff. I say that not as a father of two but as any human being with a shred of decency, morality and a soul.
“Victim 2” (of eight listed in the document) was estimated to be 10 when he was seen in the locker room showers at Penn State being subjected to sexual intercourse by Sandusky, then 58, in 2002.
“Victim 4” was 12 or 13 in 1996 or 1997 when he was “repeatedly subjected to Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse and Indecent Assault at the hands of Sandusky.”
“Victim 5” was 8 or 10 and attended as many as 15 football games with Sandusky who said he felt uncomfortable about constantly being approached by Sandusky in the showers, and one time pushed Sandusky’s hand away after being touched inappropriately.
“Victim 6” relayed similar accusations to his mother. After hearing this, she confronted Sandusky, after which he responded, “I understand. I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead.”
And others share that sentiment.
But the matter of debate now is culpability. That is where the inferno regarding Joe Paterno comes in, and I’m not ready to make that leap yet.
Pennsylvania attorney general Linda Kelly addresses the media Monday on the allegations of sex abuse crimes against Sandusky.
Two Penn State officials who are charged with covering up allegations against the team’s former defensive coordinator are already out. Athletic director Tim Curley asked to be placed on administrative leave and Gary Schultz, vice president for finance and business, is crawling back into retirement. If what has been alleged in the grand jury’s “finding of fact and recommendations” are true – that a graduate assistant made the allegations regarding “Victim 2” and Curley and Schultz didn’t even report it to university police – they should be tied to the same Chevy as Sandusky.
There is the question of what university president Graham Spanier knew. Spanier denies that the “Victim 2” incident in 2002 was reported to him as “an incident that was sexual in nature” and that Curley termed the conduct as “horsing around.” He also said he wasn’t aware of a 1998 investigation into incidents involving Sandusky and children in the football showers.
The debate on Paterno isn’t legal but moral. Charges have not been brought against him. He immediately reported allegations of the 2002 incident to Curley and Schultz after he was informed by the graduate assistant. (It’s worth noting that Sandusky had retired after the 1999 season but held “emeritus” status on campus, affording him perks that included an office in the Lasch athletics building and unlimited access to football facilities.)
Should Paterno have done more? No question. He should have followed up with school officials on the graduate assistant’s claims. He should have checked on any investigation with law enforcement. But did he fail to do so because Sandusky was a long-time friend, or did he simply mess up?
Many have already called for Paterno’s resignation. I want to hear more from the man first. Actually, I want to hear anything from him.
The statement Paterno released Sunday isn’t nearly enough, even if it touched on the correct themes. An excerpt: “ The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling.”
Paterno long has been held up in college athletics as the standard for doing things the correct way. Nobody ever has questioned his moral compass. But when the charges against Sandusky were released, many figured the compass had turned 180 degrees.
Suddenly, it’s as if he’s the personification of evil. That’s a little too much too quick.
There are questions Paterno must answer – and preferably before the Nittany Lions play on Saturday against Nebraska. He needs to stand in a room and not hide behind an emailed statement carefully crafted by an attorney. He needs to expound on what he knew and when he knew it. He needs to give details. He needs to show regret and remorse for not doing more. He needs to be convincing.
Jerry Sandusky may be a monster. But monsters have enablers.
The stated mission at Penn State is “Success With Honor.” This is a time when Paterno needs to assure everybody he met not so much his legal obligations as his moral ones.
Would he have dropped the matter so quickly if the alleged victim was somebody he knew — his child, his grandchild, the son of a close friend? Then, would he have done more?
Even if the Pennsylvania attorney general does not bring charges against Paterno, this has the potential to tarnish his legacy. It’s not about football or win totals. It’s about what’s right. He owes an explanation to the public. He certainly owes it to the victims.
By Jeff Schultz
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481 comments Add your comment
Roger
November 7th, 2011
5:30 pm
These guys make Damon Evans look like a saint.
BobDog
November 7th, 2011
5:31 pm
A subordinate comes to me and reports that he witnessed an assault. I have met my legal and moral obligation by reporting it to my boss? Really? I have a legal and moral obligation to make sure that law enforcement is notified. If I don’t do it personally, I need to follow up and make sure it happens.
Paterno needs to resign.
GT Dude
November 7th, 2011
5:32 pm
I have to give the benefit of doubt to JoePa…
If I understand correctly when the 2002 incident occured JoePa immediately gave the grad assistants report to his bosses, the Sandman was then banned from campus and JoePa severed contact with him.
Not sure you can ask more than that from a man who did not witness the event, but only hears about it second hand from a grad assistant.
P B Orr
November 7th, 2011
5:34 pm
I love football and I love my Jackets. But the truth is, college ball is a maggoty cesspool, and now the paragon of all paragons finds himself knee-deep in stinky mire. It’s time to blow the whole thing up and start over.
steve
November 7th, 2011
5:35 pm
If I caught a man having sex with a child, he wouldn’t have to worry about me calling the police. I’d kill him with my bare hands. How disturbing this is.
El Bravo
November 7th, 2011
5:35 pm
“Pennsylvania Police Commissioner Frank Noonan says Paterno may have fulfilled his legal requirement to report suspected abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. But Noonan says he questions “the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child.’” The Penn four (Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno) are nothing but enablers by their inaction.
El Bravo
November 7th, 2011
5:38 pm
GT Dude; the sandman was never banned from school and Joe Pa continued to have contact with him even up to last month.
Bammer
November 7th, 2011
5:38 pm
TechDude you do have it wrong. Sandusky still had an office in the Athletic Dept. building and unfettered access to Penn State athletics. All under the guise of his Second Mile Foundation.
steve
November 7th, 2011
5:39 pm
@Sopwith camel.. I agree 100% with you!!
Outraged
November 7th, 2011
5:39 pm
Plausible deniability doesn’t work here because it is absolutely not plausible.
If he’d never heard of the people involved and the GA tells him of a bizarre incident in the showers then maybe, MAYBE he follows the course of action that he did. He knew Sandusky very well and good ole Jerr wasn’t exactly a first offense kind of guy.
Being the face of PSU and having been entrusted with the welfare of thousands of young men over the course of his coaching career, he reasonably should have/would have done something. I’m sure he cares about the young boys, he just cares about other things much, much more. That is reason enough to see him gone.
El Bravo
November 7th, 2011
5:39 pm
I do give you props for the sandman nickname for Sandusky…
boots
November 7th, 2011
5:42 pm
This is not an issue of “I hate PSU.” I could care less about PSU as a football team. They suck. However, this is a moral issue revolving around the duty of grown men – human beings – to protect the innocent. If they did not kill this scum bag, they should have at a MINIMUM called law enforcement. Instead, they looked the other way, afraid to get involved.
If we were talking about a recruiting issue, I would give Paterno a series of chances at working this out and clearing his name. Yet we are, sadly, talking about him not calling the police to report child molestation. Telling your boss was not enough. Failing to follow up was morally vacant. Trying to now distance yourself under a false pretense of “I did not know” (when he DID know) and claim it was merely “someone we thought we knew” is cowardly.
Anon
November 7th, 2011
5:43 pm
Been there. Called the police. Perp was arrested and no more children were hurt. My employee that reported the incident sat in my office with me until we could give our statements. From discovery to statements was about two hours. From discovery to arrest less than a day.
Paterno didn’t turn it over to the proper authorities if he didn’t call the police. His bosses were even further from the incident and apparently ineffectual. Children were at risk. He did nothing. They did nothing. More children were assualted. If he isn’t beating himself up, he needs to think again. Its time to resign.
JSS
November 7th, 2011
5:43 pm
Yeah, like Ted Haggard and Eddie Bishop were Catholic… You people are missing the bigger points about 1. pedophiles (it is never about sex, it is about power) 2. major college athletics culture 3. and be careful with holier than thou characterization (I guarantee you that like must organized power organizations, sexualization of power opportunities is not limited to the Happy Valley, the Big 10, or the Northeast. When the victims like Tom Paciorek did in the Catholic Church scandal start coming forward or young girls or boy skaters did in late 90’s, or Boy Scouts in the 80’s, come back with your wisecracks…
Again, I wil say it, college football is sleazy and the obsession with unpaid 18-22 year old boys is unnatural!
extremus
November 7th, 2011
5:46 pm
I’ve heard it said that you can gauge a society’s character by the conditions within its prisons. Perhaps we’d be even better served to judge ourselves by the innocence of our children. Today’s world, including America, has not “progressed” in any way but downhill, slamming the gas pedal to the floor on the way to Hell. And children and youth are routinely the innocent parties caught in the middle.
Until we get past our shock and disgust of stories like this which are becoming so commonplace and see them as symptoms of a greater need for definite morality and (swift) justice (and, in my own personal belief, God most of all), things will not get better. Our society wasn’t perfect but then again didn’t have these types of headlines on a daily basis when I was growing up (I’m only 40 years old); neighbors looked after each other, kids could play outside unsupervised without parents being worried sick, and you could leave your doors unlocked at night in many communities. And yet the values of those earlier generations are routinely lampooned, ridiculed, and described as naivete by today’s popular culture (like say, today’s “adult-oriented” animated shows). Maybe the powers-that-be today would do better to rethink their stance on some things. Freedom is a stewardship, not an entitlement to do whatever you please.
Sorry, I’m not trying to get on a political/religious soapbox; I just read stories like this and I see them as the trees most people are missing the forest of real social and ethical problems we have to blame many of them for. As far as this individual case, it’s sickening and those responsible should be punished accordingly if the allegations prove to be true.
mcdaviddawg
November 7th, 2011
5:47 pm
Paterno reported it. Great! But he obviously knew nothing was done about it. That leaves a lot on Paterno’s plate. A new low in college sports.
steve
November 7th, 2011
5:47 pm
Joepa and the whole sorry bunch need prosecuted. This story is just beyond belief.
boots
November 7th, 2011
5:47 pm
Oh, and this noise about how he did his duty is ridiculous. It is no different than German citizens and soldiers working around concentration camps. “I wasn’t sure what was *really* going on” is the oldest excuse in the book. My kids lie better than that when they don’t clean their rooms.
So what if Paterno “cut off his relationship” with this guy. I would have pursued a relationship with this guy – a violent one. You cut off relationships when someone hits his wife or steals. When someone sexually assaults ten boys, you get involved, stop it and seek legal retribution.
Concrete Campus Man
November 7th, 2011
5:47 pm
Interesting to note that Victim 4 recalls Sandusky being upset after a May, 1999 meeting in which Joe Pa told him he would not be the next HC at Penn State. Sandusky promptly retired after the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28 that year (which PSU beat Texas A&M 24-0; his Wikipedia article states his players carried him off the field).
I have to think Joe Pa knew then…..Sandusky had already been investigated in ‘98. I suspect that’s why he told Sandusky he’d never be the head coach. Like Jed stated, you don’t know a guy 30, 40 years and not see some signs.
Outraged
November 7th, 2011
5:48 pm
Oh and by the way, If JoePa really, truly thought it was merely “horsing around” why did he bother to tell anyone??
Vain Jangling
November 7th, 2011
5:50 pm
The PSU alma mater contains the words, “may no act of mine bring shame.” Uh, too late on that one! Looks like they’re gonna be needing a new school song.
Anon
November 7th, 2011
5:53 pm
If Paterno was a high school coach he would be facing criminal charges as a required reporter. Why do we expect less from a ‘legend’?
GTBob
November 7th, 2011
5:53 pm
JoePa had a chance to have this guy locked away and he didn’t try hard enough. He passed it up the ladder like many would do. I wonder why the graduate assistant didn’t do more then he did. If I saw what he saw, and after a week he wasn’t arrested then I would have gone straight to the police. I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that he was getting away with and might do again.
Common Sense
November 7th, 2011
5:56 pm
To hell with the chain of command,
the graduate assistant (a former Penn State QB) should have rescued the child immediately.
bigdon
November 7th, 2011
5:56 pm
Jesus Christ. I was at the Georgia game last Sunday in the mens room at half time when a man came sauntering the bathroom escorting a you girl between 10 and 12, I couldn’t be sure, who looked totally miserable and completely embarrassed. I immediately left, approached a cop and asked how old was too old to take a little girl into the mens room and several people heard me and all said three to four to five at most. I told the cop about the jerk in the bathroom and he tore after him. I don’t know what he did with this guy, it was probably innocent, but I do know the cop came out to our section (It’s right by the mens room) and scanned aruond until he saw me, waved me over, shook my hand and thanked me. Joe Pa, hell is making your bed and placing a chocolate on the pillow where you and Sandusky and have shower fights, that’s after the inmates deal with Sandusky.
Fire him now and give Penn State the death penalty along with Sandusky. There’s no other option.
Dumbo
November 7th, 2011
5:59 pm
Let the courts handle this…then and only then, allow the court of public opinion to judge Paterno. Because we don’t know what was said and done a by whom; how can we start screaming for Paterno’s head. All we know is that Sandusky is accused of heinous crimes….but we cannot allow the public and sportswriters to start promoting a guilt by association agenda until all the facts have been released and we have a complete understanding of who said what and to whom.
P B Orr
November 7th, 2011
6:02 pm
extremus, that’s just a lot of hooey. There have been perverts forever, perhaps a lot more in the past when they could operate with impunity. And this kind of thing is not widespread. The problem is with paper credentials and lack of accountability. People don’t get jobs, their paper trails get jobs. There’s no face to face trust and the connivers and scammers are gaming the system. Here’s a coach who found the perfect job to feed his perversion. Surprise. And don’t come down on Joe Paterno so hard – he’s one of the gods, he doesn’t deal in mundane matters because we put him on a 10 mile pedestal and absolved him of mortal duties. It’s the system that stinks – people are and always will be flawed, but they can do a better job of creating a structure that rewards the man and not the paper.
Isiah eats Crowell
November 7th, 2011
6:03 pm
Its past time for Joe Pa to go, put Sandusky in prison, he will get back what he did if you know what I mean!
Tom, Resident Georgia Fan
November 7th, 2011
6:04 pm
This is what happens when you let a senile old goat hang around too long. I, for one, would love to see the Nittany Lions just go away forever. Never have liked that program and now there’s good reason not to like this band of look the other way degenerates.
"Chef" Tim Dix
November 7th, 2011
6:05 pm
In reference to JoePa, the bigger question maybe, is there ANYONE left to believe in?
K
November 7th, 2011
6:07 pm
If Paterno knew ANYTHING, even if he thought it innocuous, he should have pursued it with a vengeance. As a man, and one who is suppose to be so good, it was his duty to take care of this before it could continue.
Yes, he is just as guilty for these children being so abused.
Better to Dope than Grope
November 7th, 2011
6:08 pm
Remember at UGA…. Better to Dope than Grope. Ask Zach!
DocDawg
November 7th, 2011
6:10 pm
C’mon, JoePa doesn’t even know his own name anymore. He sounds like that soundclip of the Pope mumbling that Mike Bell plays. He won’t be able to assist any investigation and won’t understand anything happening to him. He should have been gracefully put out to pasture a long time ago.
LawDawg
November 7th, 2011
6:11 pm
““Victim 2” (of eight listed in the document) was estimated to be 10 when he was seen in the locker room showers at Penn State being subjected to sexual intercourse by Sandusky, then 58, in 2002.”
Then why the hell are we only hearing about this 9 years later? Was there a cover-up?
Bob
November 7th, 2011
6:14 pm
Ya’ll give Joe Pa a break…he’s been senile for the past 25 years.
Dollarbills
November 7th, 2011
6:15 pm
Tarnish his image? It will wreck it. He and his whole staff need to go…now.
Skeezix
November 7th, 2011
6:15 pm
This has completely grossed me out. Sandusky is a depraved animal. How could Penn. St. officials have sat on their hands after the report from the grad. assistant?
gt4ever
November 7th, 2011
6:17 pm
JoePa gets the benefit of doubt….. GT Dude are you KIDDING! This man should be fired and put in JAIL for the rest of his life, as should anybody else involved in this MESS! This is just SICK!
The truth
November 7th, 2011
6:19 pm
Penn State will not save their image if they keep Paterno as head football coach. He has to go.
Vain Jangling
November 7th, 2011
6:21 pm
A couple of questions for Mike McQueary: After you witnessed a senior member of the football staff committing aggravated sodomy on a 10-year-old child, and after ostensibly reporting that incident to higher authorities within the team, you then realize there’s going to be a cover-up, why then do you still want to be a part of the staff? Moreover, would anyone be justified in suggesting that maybe, just maybe, your climb from grad assistant to assistant coach and recruiting coordinator is somehow quid pro quo for your “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” company line?
Vain Jangling
November 7th, 2011
6:22 pm
Just asking.
gt4ever
November 7th, 2011
6:22 pm
Vain Jangling…..
As SICK as that sounds, it’s probably 100 percent the truth…..
Billy goat
November 7th, 2011
6:24 pm
JoePa can not survive this, nor should he.
DC
November 7th, 2011
6:25 pm
Once again, everyone is jumping to conclusions….let the thing play out..
llf
November 7th, 2011
6:25 pm
Paterno is a child molester, as far as I am concerned. He allowed his friend to continue to use the locker room, the showers, and other facilities even after he learned that the guy was boinking children in the team showers. What a sleaze bag is this Joe Pa’daphile. Clearly, he wanted to avoid the bad publicity, and therefor allowed Sandusky’s treachery to continue. He chose to protect his own career, rather than to protect children as young as 7. These kids trusted not only Sandusky, but Paterno as well. They trusted those representing Penn State athletics. Joe Paterno is a bigger fraud that that idiot from Ohio State.
Sandusky recruited at least one of these victims to the football team. Joe Pa’diphile knew he was molesting these boys and did nothing to stop it. Indeed, he encouraged the pedophilia by allowing Sandusky (with his underage charges) to continue to have access to the locker room and the team showers, Shouldn’t the NCAA investigate the program? I assume that employing such tactics is against NCAA rules.
GT Alum
November 7th, 2011
6:25 pm
According to one report I read, Sandusky was at a PSU practice with a 12 yr old as recently as 2007. If there was any doubt in JoePa’s mind that the 2002 incident had been handled properly, this shouldn’t have been allowed.
Have you heard the university president’s satatement? He said he has worked with the administrators accused of covering up for years and knows them and can’t believe they could be guilty. By that logic, shouldn’t JoePa have known what Sandusky was up to? Sounds like “plausible deniability” is the current catchphrase at PSU.
Truck Drivin Man
November 7th, 2011
6:27 pm
Jeff: You want to tie him to a bumper. I got a big old truck that we can strap the pervert to.
Hillbilly D
November 7th, 2011
6:27 pm
Then why the hell are we only hearing about this 9 years later?
That’s a question that needs answering.
There’s an awfull lot of money made off college football and one has to think, that plays into this. I wonder if everybody’s main interest was protecting the cash cow.
WitStream
November 7th, 2011
6:31 pm
Everyone says what a great guy Paterno is, and that’s all well and good, but…
We know two things about him:
1) he has selfishly held on to his job at least a decade longer than he should, dragging the program down in the process.
2) he has selfishly covered up (or at least not rooted out) a most heinous crime committed by an assistant very close to him, dragging down the program and the entire university in the process.
Judging from afar this is hardly a great guy, this is a grade A d-bag. Either that or he’s been debilitatingly senile since the turn of the century. I’m betting on the former.
WitStream
November 7th, 2011
6:32 pm
And this is downright chilling in retrospect, from a 1999 SI article:
“Still, Paterno is the boss—Sandusky doesn’t expect Paterno to solicit his opinion about who should follow him as coordinator—and no doubt part of Sandusky’s reason for retiring is that he’s tired of being second banana. He’s not even coy about his desire still to run a program, any program, perhaps a Division III team or, don’t laugh, a midget league basketball team.”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1017979/index.htm